Box staying machine



July 30, 1935.

C. F. WALZ BOX STAYING MACHINE Filed Jan. 30, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 C7ar/es July 30, 1935. F WALZ 2,009,421

BOX STAYING MACHINE Filed Jan. 30, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 a, by r aria/M525 Patented July so, 1935 2,009,421

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

BOX STAYING MACHINE Charles F. Walz, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Louis Wolf, Howard A. Wolf, and Elias Wolf, copartners trading as National Metal Edge Box Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application January 30, 1934, Serial No. 708,952

1 Claim. (01. l12) This invention relates to a box staying machine the improper location of the operators fingers and has particular reference to such machine or the like. Such safety device, While it disconadapted for the application of metal stay strips meets the positive operating mechanism, doesnot H to the box. edges. 7 of itself in its ordinary form prevent the drop- Machines of the type to which the invention reping of the cross-head under the action of its lates are illustrated, for example, in the patents ownweight. Suchdropping of the cross-head is to Stokes, No. 793,549, datedJuneZ'l, 1905; Jackson prevented by an adjustment of a suitable gib assoand Horton, No. 1,192,201, dated July 25, 1916, and ciated with the cross-head guide so as to engage Walz and Morris, No. 1,346,573,'dated July 13, the cross-head with sufficient friction to prevent 10 1920.. Inasmuch as the general arrangement of such dropping. It is the object of the'present 10 parts of such machines is well known, and the invention to provide an improvedadjustment of present invention relates primarily to details, only the friction resisting free movement of the crossso much of the complete machine will be described head. m as is necessary for an understanding of the in- The die in machines of this character is provention; vided with a knife fixed thereto and cooperating 15 In box staying machines of the character rewith a ledger blade formed by the edge of a slot ferred to, provision is made for the starting of in a cutter slide arranged to reciprocate relathe machine by the depression of a pedal or the tively to the die. Normally this slide is held in a like'and for the automatic stopping thereof after lowered position by the action of springs and as '20 one revolution if the pedal is released, as in northe die descends and approaches the anvil, the mal operation it should be. If no special provistrip fed through the slot in the slide is cut off sion was made,'however, the inertia of the parts by thedescent of the knife relative to the slide even with the pedal released would ordinarily rewhich isheld against further movement by en- 'sult in a continuance of the operation. To pregagement with theuanvilo Heretofore this slide vent this, there has been used a braking arrangehas been mounted to reciprocate vertically in a ment. such as illustrated in the Jackson and Horguideway closed by a, plate secured to the end of to patent referred to above, designed to prevent the die. The securing has been effected heretoan overrun of the parts of such extent as might fore by means of a plurality of screws providing a u initiate another cycle of operation. While such fine adjustment so to insure a. proper coopera- 6 braking arrangement is in general sufiicient, its tion between the knife and the edge of the strip adjustment is somewhat critical, and if the tenslot. As wear occurs in use, the proper relasion is insufficient to produce an objectionable tionship of the cutting parts is not maintained drag of the machine,'then there is a danger of and readjustment must be effected. An arrange- .overrunning, particularly since the amount of ment of this sort is illustrated in the Stokes pat- 5 rotation which normally'occurs between the stopent mentioned above.

ping position and that which would serve to ini- In accordance with the present invention, au- .tiate another cycle is fairly small. 'tomatic adjustment is effected by the use of r In accordance with the present invention, prospringswhich maintain a proper tension, urging vision is made to definitely prevent overrun, this the slide ,just referred to against the knife. 40 taking the form of an arrangement of unyielding The accomplishment of the objects of the in- 40 character which will definitely bring the parts to vention will be apparent from the following derest. It is used, however, in conjunction with scription read in conjunction with the accomthe brake heretofore applied so that in general no panying drawings, in which:

clashing of the parts to an objectionable degree Fig. l is a side elevation of a box staying ma- 15 will result even though the stopping is positive. chine embodying the invention; :Machines of this class have generally been pro- Fig. 2 is afragmentary elevation partly broken -vided with safety stop arrangements which will away showing means for maintaining a proper p the die from pp ching the anvil if relationship between the cutting edges for the the fingers of'an operator or some foreign matestay strip; 51 rial is in such position where the normal opera- Fig, 3 isa front elevation of the same; .tion of the die would press it on the anvil. Such Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing.

safety dGViCGSyWhlCh are found very satisfacthe improved stopping means; tory, are illustratedin the patent to Walz and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the ,Morris referred to above, and serve to disengage .plane indicated by 55 in Fig. 4;

55 I the die from its operating mechanismin case of Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the clutch ,155'

finger which is arranged to control the clutch y;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view showing the crosshead guideway adjusting means; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on the plane indicated at 88 in Fig. 7.

The machine comprises a frame 2 in which is mounted the main shaft 4 having a crank connection with a link 6 which serves to actuate the devices for cutting and handling the stay strip. There are indicated specifically only a few of the parts, for example, the die 8 and the cross-head 60, inasmuch as most of the parts are conventional and well known and are illustrated in the patents referred to above. For example, the safety devices are diagrammatically illustrated, since their specific construction forms no part of the present invention.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6-,

there are illustrated therein the parts which control the operation of the main shaft 4. This shaft has keyed thereto the clutch member It as indicated at l2, which clutch member is provided with a groove I4 communicating with an opening 16 designed to receive the clutch key 18. This clutch key is adapted to enter openings 28 in the gear 22 under the action of a spring Z. The gear 22 is suitably driven by means such as indicated in the Jackson and Hortonpatent referred to above. The key I8 is provided with a head 26 which has a cam formed thereon arranged for engagement with-a cam 28 formed on a finger 39, which has the form of a bell crank and is connected by a link 32 to a controlling treadle 34, being urged toward position to lift the treadle and stop the machine by a spring 32. If the shaft 4 is rotating and the finger 30 is released so that the cam portion 28 thereof may enter the slot l4, then when the shaft comes around toward its stopping position the cam 28 engages the head 26 of the'key I8 and pulls it out of the opening 20 with which it was engaged. In order to stop the machine, there was heretofore provided only a brake arrangementsuch as indicated at 40, arranged to engage a hub of a disc carried by the shaft 4 with a pressure regulated by the adjustment of the tension of a spring 42. As indicatedabove, such arrangement was in general satisfactory; but if the tension was insufficient then the inertia ofthe parts associated with the shaft 4 mightbe sufficient to carry the clutch member Ill beyond its stopping position so that the key l8-would clear the finger 30 and engage an opening 20 in the gear 22, which is continuousl-y'rotated. In such cases, since no box would ordinarily be on the anvil of the machine, successive lengths of stay strip would be fed forwardly, out off, and pressed upon the anvil, building up a thickness on-the anvil which would generally result in breaking the latter after a few revolutions of the shaft 4.

'The construction heretofore described in connection with the stopping arrangement is old and 'is illustrated in the Jackson and Horton patent.

In. accordance with the present invention, positive stopping is insured by the provision of a pin 36 on the clutch member H! adapted to engage a pin 38 carried by the finger 35 when the finger is in its stopping position. If the tension on the brake 4G; is made sufficiently great; contact between the two pins 36 and 38 may be avoided. If, on the other hand, the tension is lessened so as to reduce the drag on the operation of the machine, then the pins 36 and 38 will engage insuring a definite, positive stopping of the shaft it and the heads of the studs.

4 at a predetermined point of its cycle of rotation. In general, it is desirable to adjust the spring 42 of the brake 48 so that while the pins 36 and 38 engage, the drag of the brake is sufficient to produce any objectionable knocking; in other Words, the shaft is slowed down before the two pins are engaged.

It will be obvious that the construction just described definitely insures against an overrun of the shaft 4 which might serve to initiate successive rotations.

In Figs? and 3, there is illustrated the arrangement for insuring a proper tension upon the slide which provides the ledger blade for cooperation with the strip cutting knife. The die indicated at 8 has secured thereto in the usual fashion the knife 52. The slide 46 is urged downwardly by the springs 48 to a limiting position determined by a stop pin 49 and is furnished with a slot 56 through which the strip passes from the feed and whose lower edge cooperates with'the knife in the cutting operation. Heretofore theslide #5 has been held in its guideway in the die 8 by a plate adapted to bev finely adjusted inwardly and outwardly. In accordance with the present invention, the plate 54 which holds the slide against the knife is slidable on outwardly extending studs 58 and is pressed inwardly by strong springs 58 reacting between By a proper choice of the springs 58, a definite tension will be obtained at all times upon the slide irrespective of moderate wear. Adjustment may be provided by arranging thestuds so that their heads may be moved inwardly and outwardly; for exam ple, thefheads may be threaded on the studs. This, however, is found to be unnecessary, since any wear occurring in use will not permit a.

'sufiicient elongation of the springs to appreciably reduce the tension.

The adjustment of the friction on the crosshead is accomplished by the means indicated in Figs? and 8'. The cross-head indicated at 60 is provided with bearing surfaces indicated at 62 which cooperate with suitable bearing surfaces supported by an extension 66 of the frame. One of these bearing surfaces is a fixed one indicated at64. The other has been heretofore provided by means of an adjustable gib similar to that illustrated at 68 but solid in construction. This gib has heretofore been adjusted in the fashion indicated in Figs. 7 and 8, having threaded into it a bolt I0 passing through a transversely elongated slot 12 in the bracket 66. The position of this bolt may be finely adjusted by means of a screw 14 bearing upon it and locked in adjusted position by a nut 16. Adjustment is effected in the present instance and was effected hereto-fore by a moderate tightening of the bolt 10 followed by an adjustment of the screw 14 which served to move the gib 68 inwardly until a proper friction was observed on the cross-head 69. The bolt 10 was then further tightened and the locknut l6 tightened to hold the screw 14.

In spite of this relatively fine adjustment which 1 wasjfairly difficult to make, it is obvious that wear on the cross-head wouldresult in a gradcross-head, there is provided in the present in- "N stance a plate 18 set into an opening in the inner face of the gib and guided by pins 80 entering slots in the latter. Springs 82 located in sockets in the gib are arranged to press against the plate 18, forcing it against the bearing surface of the cross-head. Adjustment of the springs is effected by rotation of the screws 84, which may be held in adjusted position by locknuts 86 and which engage plates 88, serving to back up the springs 82. By the use of this new arrangement, the adjustment heretofore provided becomes no longer critical, the face of the gib itself no longer engaging the bearing face of the cross-head, the bearing being provided by the plate 18. The friction may be adjusted by proper movement of the backing plates 88 of the springs 82. Since the wear results in relatively little elongation of the springs, the tension remaining substantially constant over long periods, the initial adjustment is readily made and substantially permanently maintained.

It will be clear that variations may be made in details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A box staying machine including stay cutting and fastening mechanism, said cutting mechanism including cooperating cutting elements having a sliding relationship to each other, and means for yieldingly holding said elements in cutting engagement, said means comprising a plate having a substantially fixed relationship relative to one of said elements, and means for yieldingly pressing the plate against the other of said elements to bring the elements together.

CHARLES WALZ. 

